#32 - L.A. Cunningham - Author, Editor, Comic Book Creator
Episode
51 min
Read time
2 min
Topics
Career Growth, Design & UX, Marketing
AI-Generated Summary
Key Takeaways
- ✓Self-Publishing Distribution: Avoid Amazon exclusivity despite its reach. ASAP Imagination secured placement in Barnes and Noble and Waterstones UK while maintaining IP ownership, using print-on-demand to eliminate inventory costs and basement storage of thousands of unsold books.
- ✓Artist Collaboration Process: Start with paid trial pages before committing to full projects. For Babies with Rabies, Cunningham paid for one letter illustration first, then adjusted character design and color palette to balance zombie dystopian themes with vibrant, fun children's book aesthetics.
- ✓Community-Based Marketing: Build organic promotion through creator collectives where members cross-promote at conventions and markets. ASAP Imagination writers carry each other's books to shows and share social media posts, creating word-of-mouth momentum without paid advertising budgets.
- ✓Fear as Character Motivation: Use primal fears as core character drivers, particularly parental fear of failing to save children. Cunningham's anthology Points of Villainy explores sixteen different fears including claustrophobia, failure, and time-loop scenarios where parents repeatedly cannot rescue their kids.
What It Covers
L.A. Cunningham discusses her transition from novelist to comic book creator, building ASAP Imagination as an indie publisher, self-publishing strategies including distribution and marketing, and creating dark humor content like Sister Grimm and Babies with Rabies.
Key Questions Answered
- •Self-Publishing Distribution: Avoid Amazon exclusivity despite its reach. ASAP Imagination secured placement in Barnes and Noble and Waterstones UK while maintaining IP ownership, using print-on-demand to eliminate inventory costs and basement storage of thousands of unsold books.
- •Artist Collaboration Process: Start with paid trial pages before committing to full projects. For Babies with Rabies, Cunningham paid for one letter illustration first, then adjusted character design and color palette to balance zombie dystopian themes with vibrant, fun children's book aesthetics.
- •Community-Based Marketing: Build organic promotion through creator collectives where members cross-promote at conventions and markets. ASAP Imagination writers carry each other's books to shows and share social media posts, creating word-of-mouth momentum without paid advertising budgets.
- •Fear as Character Motivation: Use primal fears as core character drivers, particularly parental fear of failing to save children. Cunningham's anthology Points of Villainy explores sixteen different fears including claustrophobia, failure, and time-loop scenarios where parents repeatedly cannot rescue their kids.
Notable Moment
Cunningham reveals she joined Twitter to build an author platform as a class assignment, then felt compelled to actually write because she had publicly declared herself a writer, demonstrating how external accountability can override internal motivation and launch creative careers.
Episode Transcript
Hi, and welcome to another episode of Pitch. I'm Leah Saint Marie. And I am Angel. And today, we have a special guest with us. LA Cunningham is an author and comic book creator with a dark and twisty sense of humor that pairs nicely with her dark and twisty writing. She and her spouse have two small human children and one larger canine child, all of whom enjoy eating food off the floor and watching squirrels out the window. She's the editor in chief and a writer at ASAP Imagination and released her debut book, Points of Villainy, Points of Virtue with her coauthor, PA Hayden, Hades in 2020. In 2022, she released her debut comic book series, Sister Grimm, followed by her dystopian zombie esque parenting picture book, Babies with Rabies, an ABC survival guide. She also hosts a weekly drink and draw on YouTube in hopes of drawing her own comic book one day. Welcome, LA. Thank you. Yeah. Welcome. Good to be here. Now you're based, not on the West Coast Of The United States. Is that right? I am in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. So, like, oh, like, west but prairies. Like, almost mountains but prairies. Are you are you from that area? Have you immigrated there? What's your connection to No. I'm from here. My my parents are here and yeah, like, all my family is still close by, so we don't have to go anywhere for Christmas or not far at least. Very cool. Very cool. Now you and Leah have, connected a little bit. How did you two link up, and what's the what's the history there? So it's got actually, so I think I just put out a post saying that I was looking to go on some podcast and Leah responded. And then I realized I was I think I was following her already, and I'm like, why do I know you? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Then then you're kinda talking and kinda figuring it out. And I she did some work with Endless Mile Studios. And Hades is the owner of ASAP Imagination where I work, and he used to do a lot with Comic Crusaders. And Endless Mile was doing, I think it was laundry day was the video. And then Correct. He was interviewing you guys. So that's like you guys connected way before that. And then, yeah, I just so there is something around, like, something about you seems familiar and, like, kinda looked at your profile. I'm like, I think I kind of know you or know of you. We're we're pandemic adjacent friends. Yeah. Basically. Yeah. And I just I love your work. I've been researching you like, like a villain since since we connected to prep for this podcast. And I just want you to tell the audience a little bit about this, ABC book that you have for children. Yeah. So this is it's like a parenting gift, but kinda like for new or …
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Books, tools, and gear mentioned in this episode
SignalCast may earn commission on purchases via these links. As an Amazon Associate, SignalCast earns from qualifying purchases.
Books
- Points of VillainyBy guest
by L.A. Cunningham
“Cunningham's anthology Points of Villainy explores sixteen different fears including claustrophobia, failure, and time-loop scenarios where parents repeatedly cannot rescue their kids”
Products
- Sister GrimmBy guest
by L.A. Cunningham
“creating dark humor content like Sister Grimm and Babies with Rabies”
- Babies with RabiesBy guest
by L.A. Cunningham
“For Babies with Rabies, Cunningham paid for one letter illustration first, then adjusted character design and color palette to balance zombie dystopian themes with vibrant, fun children's book aesthetics”
company
- ASAP ImaginationBy guest
“building ASAP Imagination as an indie publisher, self-publishing strategies including distribution and marketing”
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